Synergistic Red Fuse ...


I installed a SR RED Quantum fuse in my ARC REF-3 preamp a few days ago, replacing an older high end fuse. Uhh ... for a hundred bucks, this little baby is well worth the cost. There was an immediate improvement upon installation, but now that its broken in (yes, no kidding), its quite remarkable. A tightening of the focus, a more solid image, and most important of all for my tastes, a deeper appreciation for the organic sound of the instruments. Damn! ... cellos sound great! Much improved attack on pianos. More humanistic on vocals. Bowed bass goes down forever. Next move? .... I'm doing the entire system with these fuses. One at a time though just to gauge the improvement in each piece of equipment. The REF-75se comes next. I'll report the results as the progression takes place. Stay tuned ...

Any comments from anyone else who has tried these fuses?
128x128oregonpapa
Note to Oregonpapa regarding Taj Mahal's mystery guitar player…Jesse Ed Davis became a friend of mine when he was hanging out in Honolulu in the early 80s, borrowed a 60s Vibrolux from me and produced some stuff for a band I knew...a true guitar genius and cool dude who had more soul and technique than nearly anyone I've heard perform anywhere (he used to sit in here and there in Honolulu clubs)...left us way before his time…look him up.

I have a friend who is an owner of a well regarded hifi "salon" who had a pile of SR Black fuses hanging around from some show or something, and after noting my suspicion about SR's inexplicable technology, he leant me a half dozen or so of the things about a month ago (he refuses to use them as he says they "blow too easily"…his words). I stuck them in my tube amp, my preamp, and the power supplies for my dac and phono preamp, reversed them after a couple of weeks per mythological theory (2 blew in my amp…I guess you actually do need to ignore SRs ratings). I even had them switched out by a friend without my knowing for sure that they were in or out so I could sort of "double blind" them. During this exercise I tried hard to be as objective as my previously described "Bully and Coward" demeanor will allow, and the results were as follows: These things don't provide any audible improvement over whatever fuses I had in my gear (my original Littlefuses and other nameless fuses are all back in their former places), and they're sort of dangerous (they blow, literally). I even recorded my system with my digital recording stuff using a great mic, to see if the same recording at the same level with and without the SR mojo in play could reveal anything (asked some well regarded audio pro friends to suffer through these recordings with similar head scratching non-results…many thanks)…I tried man…I gave the things a shot…my conclusion is SR fuses are fooling many into paying 500% of what non "quantum" fuses cost for a placebo that provides membership in the I Think I Can Hear Things Club, which may actually be worth it to the SR fanboy base. Sorry kids…I tried.
There are quite a few perfectly good reasons why some people don’t get good results or the results they’re looking for with some audiophile tweaks. Now, I’m willing to list those reasons. Are you sure you want to go there? ;-)
wolf_garcia ...

Thanks for the info on Ed Davis. Much appreciated. Over the years, I've had the good fortune to meet some really great guitarists, Ted Greene being one of them. Kudos to you if you know who Ted Greene is. He actually played for me and a large group of my friends at my home several times. We lost a great one with Ted's passing. Here's a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDuee6blvj8

On your system and the SR fuses: I have no way of knowing why they are so effective in the majority of the audio systems of folks posting in this thread and why they have no effect in your system or mapman's system either. All I can say is, I have posted nothing but the truth as I see it and hear it.

Why did the fuses fail (blow) in your system, and so far (knock on wood) have not failed at all in mine? I did my system completely with SR RED fuses before switching them out for SR BLACK fuses with no failures at all. That's a total of ten fuses, all of which worked perfectly. 

geoffkait ...

I, for one, would be interested in your assessment as to why some folks get good results and others don't.  I don't think its the quality of the equipment being used, as we have posters here with really high end stuff .. to wit, labtec's Wisdom speakers. Could it be the room?

One thing I have noticed with several of the fuse naysayers, is that they have not payed attention to speaker placement. That leads me to believe that perhaps they haven't paid much attention to the rest of their setup as well.

 As we crazy audiophiles have discovered, everything .... everything makes a difference one way or another. A good example was a guy on another audiophile site who said I was crazy for thinking fuses could make a difference. I asked  him to post a picture of his system and he did. It consisted of an old Pioneer receiver and he had his speakers jammed right up against the wall. Go figure.  

OP
Oregonpapa 7.13.16

I've spent some time this morning trying to analyse what would motivate someone with "labtec's' pristine qualifications (audiologist, psychologist, sales trainer and financial planner) to make such a convoluted attack on not only me, but Ted Denny, SR in general and upon others posting here"

Why did Mark  David Chapman shoot and kill John Lennon, a man who promoted love, peace and beautiful music?  

Fortunately we can still enjoy a few miracles like Jackie Evancho.

There are many things we will never understand.
^^^  Beautiful response, nyame.

And yes ... Jackie Evancho is definitely a miracle. And its a tribute to you that you recognize this.

The first time I saw Jackie sing, she was only ten years old. Her voice was so mature and beautiful that I got goose bumps on my arms and the tears started to flow from my eyes. I realized that she was an old soul. All I could think of was the miraculous gift that God had bestowed upon this beautiful little girl. The way that she expresses herself with her hands as she sings is a miracle in itself.  Simply amazing. 

Take care ...

OP